This invention generally relates to a telecommunication system, method and telephone and more particularly to a telecommunication system, method and telephone with caller identification capability.
The proliferation of personal telecommunications has created a demand for features to enable a called party at a called telephone to avoid unwanted telephonic calls. Known call identification systems are based solely on automatic number identification of the telephone number of the caller that is provided to the called telephone during ringing and prior to answering of the call. In some of the identification systems, a directory listing name that is associated with the calling telephone is provided in lieu of the telephone number of the calling telephone and displayed at the called telephone on an alphanumeric display. Alternatively, the called telephone is programmed by the user to display a name preselected by the user of the called telephone in lieu of the telephone number of the calling telephone.
While the systems that display a personal name of a person give the appearance of providing personal identification of the caller, in fact, they do not unless the caller with that name is calling from a telephone having a telephone number associated with the name of the caller. If the caller calls from a another telephone another name associated with the other telephone is displayed. If someone other than the person whose name is associated with the calling telephone calls from the calling telephone of the named caller, then the name of the actual caller is not displayed; instead, the name of the person associated with the telephone number of the calling telephone is displayed.
The inventor has determined that existing caller identification systems are disadvantageously limited in their capabilities and thus are unreliable with respect to enabling the called party of the called telephone to predetermine the identity of the actual party placing the call from the identified calling telephone. With the existing telecommunication systems, methods and telephones with caller identification capability, the called party must assume but cannot know with any degree of certainty that the identity displayed is the identity of the caller actually placing the call.
Telephonic systems are also known that have a so-called voice dialing pursuant to which automated voice recognition are employed to enable a telephone to respond to voice commands from the user, particularly the digits of the telephone to be called, to place calls. These systems are designed to recognize the voice of any normal user in a large population of potential users.
In accordance with the present invention the aforementioned disadvantageous inability of known communication systems, methods and telephones with so-called identification capability to provide the identity of the actual caller irrespective of the identity of the caller are overcome by providing a telecommunication system and method in which the actual identity of the person calling is ascertained and by providing a telephone in which personal identifying information concerning a caller is automatically obtained and transmitted.
An embodiment of a telecommunication system of the present invention has means for automatically obtaining personal information concerning a caller during placement of a call to a called telephone and means responsive to the personal information automatically obtained for personally identifying the caller. Preferably, the automatically obtaining means includes one of means for obtaining fingerprint information from the caller and means for obtaining voiceprint information from the caller. In the case of obtaining fingerprint information, a fingerprint scanner associated with at least one of the keys of the keypad is used for automatically obtaining fingerprint information from the caller. In the case of obtaining voiceprint information, a telephone microphone converts the voice of the caller to electrical audio signals and the automatically obtaining means responds to the electrical audio signals to produce corresponding voiceprint information associated with the caller. The fingerprint information is transmitted to a fingerprint database and the voiceprint information is transmitted to a voiceprint database. The fingerprint information is compared with fingerprint data in the fingerprint database to personally identify the caller associated with the fingerprint information. The voiceprint information is compared with voiceprint data in a voiceprint database to personally identify the caller associated with the voiceprint information. Preferably, a local switch servicing the called telephone includes at least one of the fingerprint database and the voiceprint database.
Preferably, the telecommunication system includes means for providing to the called telephone an identity of a telephone of a caller and means responsive to a determination that the at least one of the fingerprint information and the voiceprint information is not associated with a known personal identity for actuating the caller telephone identity providing means. Likewise, the telecommunication system of the present invention includes means for detecting if the called telephone is authorized to receive the identity of the caller, and means responsive to the detecting means for providing the identity of the caller to the called telephone if authorized.
In keeping with another aspect of the present invention, a telephone is provided having means for automatically obtaining personal identifying information concerning a caller using the telephone and means for automatically transmitting the personal identifying information of the caller to a telephonic switch during placement of a call by the caller. Preferably, a fingerprint scanner associated with a scanable finger pad scans a fingerprint of a finger of the caller pressed against the scanable finger pad, and the finger pad is associated with one of the keys of the keypad used for the placement of the call.
In accordance with the telecommunication method of the present invention, the personal identity of a caller is automatically ascertained at a calling telephone during initiation of a call to a called telephone and the personal identity is automatically provided to the called telephone prior to the call being answered at the called telephone.